The "Snapper" group of clonal chrysanthemum cultivars evolved from a breeding program initiated in 1974 at the premises of Perifleur Limited, in Sussex County, England, by A. Graham Sparkes, its Managing Director, to implement the company policy within the field of chrysanthemum cultivation. The aims and objectives of this program were to produce superior chrysanthemum cultivars that had a good response to poor light and low temperature conditions, that could be grown more efficiently and economically commensurate with good quality, fast response and low wastage for year round production, and that would also be versatile as to the range of environment in which they can perform competitively in a broad spectrum of colors.
The original or parent plant of this family resulted as a seedling of a cross between two unnamed seedling plants made by Dr. B. J. Machin, an employee of Perifleur Limited, which were selected from stock maintained for breeding purposes, namely a pale pink seedling identified by Perifleur Code 49N2.times.a white seedling identified by Perifleur Code 60L11, made in 1974 in greenhouse. This new seedling, when fully tested, was found to possess many of the major characteristics that were sought in the before mentioned breeding program, whereupon this plant was assigned the name "Snapper" and subsequently was given the generic name "Pale Pink Snapper", the name "Snapper" being adopted as the family name for the group of clone cultivars derived by mutation breeding begun with clones of the parent plant "Pale Pink Snapper".
Vegetative cuttings of this original plant were rooted at the premises of Perifleur Limited and the resulting plantlets were taken to Holland for Xray irradiation, a mutagenic technique known at the time to plant breeders: C. Broertjes, P. Koene and J. W. van Veen "A Mutant of a Mutant of a Mutant of a . . . Irradiation of Progressive Radiation-Induced Mutants in a Mutation-Breeding Programme with Chrysanthemum Morifolium Ram." Euphytica 29 (1980) 525-530. These radiated plantlets were then returned to the premises of Perifleur Limited where they were cultivated to full flowering state, at which time the best plants were selected for propagation and commercialization. Subsequently, plantlets derived from cuttings of these selected plants were sent to Holland for irradiation and then returned to England for growth to full flowering state. Thus was begun the mutation breeding program which resulted in the family of plants herein described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
The selection process for determining the mutants for commercialization included various screening techniques but, in particular, the parent plant and the mutants derived therefrom were tested against a background of low temperature, a test which, it was believed, had not been carried out at that time by the breeding industry. At these low temperatures, i.e. about 45.degree. to 60.degree. F., it was found that chrysanthemum bud development after initiation was more rapid as compared with other varieties. At 50.degree. F., the plants initiated buds and formed flowers normally. Moreover, and highly significant, the low temperature bud initiation and flower development occurred under conditions of poor light as in midwinter at northern latitudes. These highly significant and commercially valuable light efficiency and low temperature characteristics in all plant material derived from the original or parent plant have been subsequently confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Efford Experimental Horticultural Station, at Lymington, Hampshire, England. (See Annual Report 1978)